Blogging Jobs: How to Hire the Right Blogger for Your Blog

I received an email from a new freelance blog writer recently asking if a blogging job she was offered was legit. I read the offer and indeed, it did seem like a legitimate job. So, she decided to take it.

The $50/Week Blogging Job

Two days later, she wrote me back to say that she didn’t think she was going to enjoy blogging, but she was going to complete the assignment because she had given her word.
FYI, it was five short posts a week, 100-150 words, for $50.

The assignment is to last into perpetuity. If all goes well for the first few weeks, this blog owner wants the poster to perhaps do more work for some other blogs he has.

So what’s the problem?

Signs a Blog Writer is Going to Bail

The problem is this blogger is probably going to bail on this guy, just when he’s thinking that he’s gotten a reliable blogger and can finally focus on other things. As a former recruiter and as someone who’s hired hundreds of freelance writers, my gut just tells me that this is not going to last long.

If you’re thinking about hiring a freelance writer to blog for you, following are some guidelines to adhere to to locate the most reliable blogger.

Blog Employers: Guidelines for Hiring the Perfect Blogger

Treat it Like a Real Job Opening: Blog writing is a bona fide profession now. Hence, you need to treat the hiring process like any other “real job.” This means getting some type of interview/vetting process in order.

Check The Blog Writer’s Blog: Part of the aforementioned vetting process should involve checking the blog writer’s blog. Look for things like how long they’ve had a blog, how often they’ve updated it, what their writing style is, etc.

Test Run: Before piling on assignments, give the blogger to be a test run. Eg, “write a month’s worth of posts and we’ll come to a more permanent arrangement after that.”

Pay a Fair Rate: Now this can be sticky, as there seem to be no set blogging rates. With freelance writers, you usually get more than what you pay for, so pay a decent rate if you find a blogger you like, especially if you want them to stick around for a the long haul.

If you’re lowballing, trust me, as soon as the blog writer finds a few more better paying gigs, off they’ll go – and rightly so. Good, dependable writers are worth their weight in gold (and of course, I speak from a completely unbiased point of view ).

If your blog is your business, give the blog writer the same respect you would to any valued employee of a company you’re running. This means paying a decent wage.

Beware of the Experimenting Freelance Blog Writer

Many freelancers try freelancing on for size. What I mean is, they’ll do it on the side, or they’ll take a freelance writing job or two just to see “if it works out.” This is what happened to the blogger above. She was idly surfing Craigslist one day while at her full-time job. On a lark, she applied to the job listing and landed the gig.

The Full-time Freelance Blog Writer versus the Part-time Freelance Blog Writer

There are many freelancers out there like this. While there are many reliable part-time freelance writers, I always prefer to work with full-time freelancers. Why? Because they tend to take jobs more seriously, adhere to deadlines and value each job more – for obvious reasons.

Remember, I owned an editorial staffing agency in New York City for 8 years and was a recruiter for 12 years, so I’m writing from a whole lot of first-hand experience here.

If you’re serious about hiring freelance blog writers, keep these tips in mind when you start the recruiting process.

Written by Yuwanda Black from Inkwell Editorial
Posted on November 19th, 2008 and filed under Writing
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